Exam question 4 · Sounds right, but is wrong

Select the response that is consistent with the established facts concerning a hammer and a feather released simultaneously upon the surface of the Moon.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, response, established facts · What happens: select, be, establish, concern, release · To what, where: response, hammer, feather

This is exam question 4 of lesson 183 «Sounds right, but is wrong» of the world course of Mova's primary school, asked in stiff, formal language. The page gives the question's syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause, then the 4 options as the student saw them, each with its tree and pragmatics. Every text is parsed by Mova itself. How the student answered it, with the score of every option and why: the test at school.

The question

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Select	select	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 response	det
3	response	response	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Select	obj
4	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	6 consistent	nsubj
5	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 consistent	cop
6	consistent	consistent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 response	acl:relcl
7	with	with	ADP	_	10 facts	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 facts	det
9	established	establish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	10 facts	amod
10	facts	fact	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 consistent	obl
11	concerning	concern	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	10 facts	acl
12	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	13 hammer	det
13	hammer	hammer	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 concerning	obj
14	and	and	CCONJ	_	16 feather	cc
15	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	16 feather	det
16	feather	feather	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 hammer	conj
17	released	release	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	16 feather	acl
18	simultaneously	simultaneously	ADV	_	17 released	advmod
19	upon	upon	ADP	_	21 surface	case
20	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	21 surface	det
21	surface	surface	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 released	obl
22	of	of	ADP	_	24 Moon	case
23	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	24 Moon	det
24	Moon	Moon	PROPN	Number=Sing	21 surface	nmod
25	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Select	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	select	imperative	you not said here	the response		vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent response=Theme
2	is	present	the response		with the established facts; consistent property	tree rules
3	establish	participle				vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Pivot
4	concern	gerund	the established facts not said here	a hammer and a feather		vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus hammer=Experiencer
5	release	participle		a feather not said here	upon the surface of the Moon; simultaneously property	vn free-10.6.3-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Causer

One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

The options

Option 1 · ← Mova's choice

The hammer reaches the surface first

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 hammer	det
2	hammer	hammer	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 reaches	nsubj
3	reaches	reach	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 surface	det
5	surface	surface	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 reaches	obj
6	first	first	ADV	NumForm=Word NumType=Ord	3 reaches	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	reach	present	the hammer	the surface				first property	vn body_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Agent surface=Theme

Option 2

The feather reaches the surface first

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 feather	det
2	feather	feather	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 reaches	nsubj
3	reaches	reach	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 surface	det
5	surface	surface	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 reaches	obj
6	first	first	ADV	NumForm=Word NumType=Ord	3 reaches	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	reach	present	the feather	the surface				first property	vn body_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Agent surface=Theme

Option 3

The feather does not descend at all

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 feather	det
2	feather	feather	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 descend	nsubj
3	does	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 descend	aux
4	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	5 descend	advmod
5	descend	descend	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
6	at	at	ADP	_	7 all	case
7	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	5 descend	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not descend	present · do-support	the feather			all			vn meander-47.7-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

Both reach the surface at the same moment

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Both	both	DET	PronType=Tot	2 reach	nsubj
2	reach	reach	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 surface	det
4	surface	surface	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 reach	obj
5	at	at	ADP	_	8 moment	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 moment	det
7	same	same	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 moment	amod
8	moment	moment	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 reach	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	reach	present	Both	the surface			moment		vn body_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Agent surface=Theme

Text: the tests of Mova's primary school, written for Mova (world/data/school/), as the course runner gave them to the student. Trees: Mova's own parse — the en model on the CPU, when the site is built — not checked by a teacher; they may be wrong. Frames: Mova's frames reader (prag), each text read on its own. Elamur Cosmic License.

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